Another thing I learned was about the whole “therapeutic” thing. I always thought that when an oil company claimed that their oil was “therapeutic grade” it meant that it could be used medicinal purposes, not just for aromatherapy purposes. I’m sure that’s true, but from what you, the article I just read, and other EO experts are saying, that isn’t true. Pure essential oils can be used for their “therapeutic” or medicinal qualities just like they can be used in aromatherapy. The term “therapeutic grade” means nothing. Eden’s Organic oils say 100% Pure Essential Oils on their bottles, but I think somewhere on their site it says therapeutic grade. I’m assuming many small companies like theirs are having to claim this in order to keep up with the bigger companies, whether it’s true or not. Either way, it doesn’t matter to me, but I did take that wording out of this post so that it’s more accurate!

Hi Meagan, I’m somewhat new to the EO world. I would like to make two blends as a gift (along with a diffuser) for my cousin who was newly diagnosed with breast cancer. I’d like one to be healing (I was thinking orange, lemongrass, thyme and frankincense). The other I’d like for her nausea (which I’d like to encorporate ginger and lemon). Do you have any advice?

As far as how much to use of each goes, that’s up to you. That’s the magic of blending. I understand that they’re expensive oils so you don’t wanna play around too much with different blends, but there are really a lot of different options. You could try equal drops of each or if you really like the smell of one over the others use more of it. Hope this helps get you started! Best of luck!

Here in California, where my family and I live, we’re treated to a bountiful, year-round explosion of plant life. The bright citrus trees, the blooming roses, the clusters of flowering lavender plants all make for amazing sights—and scents. But you don’t have to live in Southern California to enjoy these fragrant smells, or to get the benefits that they can deliver to sleep and mood.

I have used Organic Infusions oils for over 7 years now and I love them. They are the highest quality and vibration that I have found and their efforts for maintaining purity are remarkable! My favorite is the Rose Otto oil for daily skin use (I add 10 drops to a 2 oz bottle of my skincare cream and stir it in) and I also like using lemon and grapefruit daily in my diffuser and in my laundry, along with Lemongrass. I use daily in winter the blend Immune Protection and am rarely sick! A fabulous company with no monthly order requirements or stress that other companies require. I like to order when I order and that’s that! I am so happy to have found Organic Infusions and to benefit from these amazing oils! Thank you ever so much!!! ~ Teresa T.
Would it be safe to add essential oils to the distilled water reservoir in my cpap machine? If so, how many drops – the reservoir holds 1 and 1/4 cups of water. The technician that instructed me in the equipment’s use thought it would be fine. Would it be better to use an extract or infusion since water and oil don’t mix? If oils or extracts are used, do they need to be pharmaceutical grade?
Essential oil blends are diluted differently depending upon a persons age and the use you have for it. For example, an infant would need a 1% dilution where an older child would do fine with a 2.5% dilution. Adults are usually around a 5% dilution. These dilutions would be for massage oils or therapeutic uses. For cleaning or air fresheners, you may use the 5% dilution or stronger… it just depends on where it’s being used and how.

Apply to the body directly. Some people find it soothing to apply essential oils to pressure points, like the wrists or behind the ears, or use oils to give themselves a light self-massage. (Massage for–or from–your bed partners work great, too!) Essential oils in undiluted form are highly concentrated and intense, and can irritate your skin. DO NOT APPLY undiluted essential oil to your skin. If you’re planning to use essential oils topically on your body, be sure you’re buying an already diluted oil—a mixture of the fragrant essential oil of your choice and a carrier oil (often a vegetable oil).

If you sleep badly, you should also think of choosing right furniture (a bed and a mattress). Not only comfort during rest, but also health depends of their quality. The right choice of a mattress can be a reliable help in the treatment of insomnia, pain in the muscles and spine, allergic diseases. Providing yourself a comfortable and healthy sleep, it is easier to cope with a feeling of constant fatigue and irritability…
Next, place the diffuser below eye level. The aroma from your diffuser will rise on its own, so placing your diffuser in an area above your nose will prevent you from ever enjoying your oils. It’s also recommended that you place your diffuser in the center of the room, because the oil diffuses in a radial diameter. In other words, placing the diffuser in a corner of the room may cause the oil to hit the wall and rise upwards, reducing diffusion. However, if you don’t have an outlet in the center of your living room (like most people) just place your diffuser away from the wall.

Sleep is something that everyone needs, and no one gets enough of. I know from personal experience how sleep can affect everything from mental clarity and sanity to your pain levels and immune system strength. In my last sleep post, I gave you my favorite Sleepytime tea & tincture recipe, in this post we're going to learn about using aromatherapy to help you and your family sleep better. With so many great essential oils for sleep, I have put together my recipe for my favorite sleepytime essential oil blend that I like to call, Good Night Sleep Tight! This calming essential oil blend is good for more than just sleep, I even use this to control my Restless Leg Syndrome!

Change your diet and when you eat – Foods that don't digest well, cause indigestion, heartburn, gas, or intestinal problems can all disrupt your ability to sleep. Eating a whole foods diet rich in green vegetables, and avoiding processed foods can really change your body's energy levels throughout the day as well as the quality and quantity of sleep you get at night. Also, eating foods too close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep because your body has to work to digest the food while you are sleeping.
I really enjoy Lea’s website too! One thing I recently learned about the 3rd party testing she had done though, was it may not be very reliable. She chose a chemist in France who used outdated testing equipment simply because it was the cheapest. And although I greatly appreciate her knowledge, she gets very defensive and on the verge of rude at times in the comments. I also know she doesn’t appreciate learning that isn’t taught by a certified aroma therapist.
Getting a good night's sleep can sometimes feel as impossible and frustrating as trying to lick your elbow (if you've never tried it, I bet you just did — I see you, fam). There are a lot of different sleep aids on the market, but personally, I think adding some essential oils to your nightly routine is one of the best ways to get a good snooze. Many essential oils are specifically dedicated to helping you doze off, and combining some of these relaxing, fragrant substances into essential oil blends for sleep is a surefire way to reap all the bedtime benefits you're searching for.
Go to bed before your second wind – it has been said that 1 hour of sleep between the hours of 10:00 pm and 2:00 am has the same effect on your body as 2 hours of sleep after 2:00 am because of our natural circadian rhythm. This seems logical as most people become naturally tired around 10:00 pm or so. What’s the risk of staying up late? If you choose to stay awake past this time, you will often experience a cortisol-driven “second wind.” Our body regulates hormones around midnight and people will find themselves up until 2:00 am or so unless they get to bed earlier.
Here in California, where my family and I live, we’re treated to a bountiful, year-round explosion of plant life. The bright citrus trees, the blooming roses, the clusters of flowering lavender plants all make for amazing sights—and scents. But you don’t have to live in Southern California to enjoy these fragrant smells, or to get the benefits that they can deliver to sleep and mood.
Just because these two brands frequently recommend taking essential oils internally doesn’t mean their brands can be and others can’t. It just means they give unsafe advice that is contrary to what any real aromatherapist would advise. People have gotten seriously hurt by following this advice. The International Association of Holistic Aromatherapist says that essential oils should never be taken internally unless you are advised to do so by a clinical aromatherapist who has appropriate training in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, etc. This has nothing to do with oil purity and everything to do with the fact that essential oils are very powerful.
You can get a diffuser at retail, but I highly suggest getting a starter kit at 60% off that includes the diffuser for free. I really like the Desert Mist (which has different LED settings – even a candle flicker setting – and goes for 8-10 hours). That way you get the diffuser and the oils all in one set. I only use about 6-10 drops total in the diffuser for each use.
Jill, thank you for your blog post. I have never used essential oils. Thanks for the information on the different oils and the combinations. I have heard of essential oils, just was never sure which oils go together. I want to try them. I have 10 med size plastic containers full of candles of every shape and color for each season and plus some. In the closet and under the bed. I hardly use them much anymore, since they just don’t seem to hold the smell when they are burning. They just sit in the plastic boxes taking up space.

I found you while searching for information about essential oils. You have a really neat site and with tons of great and valuable information that helps me a lot. I have been using essential oils for some time now, specially for cleaning around my home and for room sprays . I am now making soy candles but I am using essential oils instead of fragrance oils, even though some says that essential oils doesn’t have a very good scent throw in candles. My question for you is, Can I use jasmine absolute in jojoba oil for scent my wax? And what will be the ratio for blending in 6oz of soy wax? Would the 30-50-20 rule apply the same for blending essential oils for candles?

The truth is, Lavender really is an all-star essential oil. It is extremely versatile. It is most commonly known for it relaxing effects on the body and mind. With that, the main effect of lavender can be further summarized in an ability to eliminate nervous tension of all kinds. This means that lavender can help with relaxation; it can relieve pain symptoms, enhance blood circulation, disinfect the skin, and treat respiratory problems. Even the name lavender comes from the latin word “Lavare”, which means “to wash”, derived from its particularly clean aroma.
FYI: under the blend for deodorizing animal accident odours, you have listed lemon , tea tree among other citrus oils known to be VERY toxic. I know Young Living touts their oils as “safe” for pets but it’s simply not true. Just ask my neighbour who killed her cat thinking that because she was using “Young Living” it would be fine. Limonene and other components are TOXIC in these oils for cats, they simply cannot metabolize them with their liver. I cringe when I see people gleefully telling how tea tree oil has prevented fleas in their cats..yeah, pretty soon they won’t have a cat for the fleas to bite. Do your research please! Aromatherapy is great but certain oils, tea-tree, clove, citrus oils for example are downright dangerous and can cause toxic overload or death. Regardless of brand used. Sorry I just felt I needed to post this to spare even 1 person heartache over losing a pet just not realizing the extreme potency of EO’s on pets/cats.
Thank you so much for this information, and the links you have provided. I’m new to this whole world of oils and thoroughly confused. One of my 9 year old sons has ADHD, Autism, severe anxiety and phobias, and a severe peanut allergy. On top of all of that he has a higher heart rate due to the anxiety and phobias setting everything else off, and cannot take any medications to help calm him down. He goes to therapy and social skills twice a week and has TSS workers at home and at school, but he still suffers and I needed to find something to help him without modern medicines in the mix. As it turns out, his therapy center is directly next door to a place called Penn Herb Company, so we ventured in to inquire about alternatives. He took a big sniff when we went in and I could see him relax. They helped me get a small stash of relaxing oils and make him a “calm down potion.” It worked every time I tried it on him before full meltdown. I am now on a mission to help him and the whole family get better without chemical medicines, but cannot spend hours in a store or classroom, or even at my computer (I have 4 boys, 2 of them not school aged yet and I stay at home to raise them) so sites like yours are now my lifeblood. Everyone else seems to have a grand opinion on a brand of oil and says the others are no good. It is so hard to decipher some of this stuff. It is awesome to have someone give the truth about different brands, and their claims. All the best to you, and thank you so much again from the bottom of this Mama’s overflowing heart!!!!
For stress and anxiety: Stress and anxiousness are frequent obstacles to sound, restful sleep. People who experience stress and anxiety symptoms often have trouble falling asleep and sleep restlessly throughout the night, leaving them tired and fatigued the next day. There’s a body of research indicating that aromatherapy using essential oils can help to relieve stress and anxiety symptoms, which may help improve sleep indirectly.
Hi, Dorothy. Great question, and this may be something you’ll want to run by an aromatherapist as they have more training in how EOs are made. But, from my understanding, whether the essential oil is extracted via steam (water), alcohol, or CO2… none of that comes through in the final product. As in, you don’t actually have water or alcohol or CO2 in the final essential oil. So, when you’re blending, you’re actually blending oil with oil regardless of the extraction process and emulsifiers aren’t needed. Now, I could be totally wrong there. Again, you’ll need to ask someone more knowledgeable in that area. Hope this helps.
Hi Diana. It sounds like you’re mixing carrier oils together which are totally fine and very good at nourishing the skin on their own. What I’m talking about here in this post is how to blend essential oil together to get a nice smell. This essential oil blend will then be added to the carrier oil(s) of your choice like those you mentioned in your comment. If you wanna learn more about blending essential oils based on their therapeutic properties and have them smell good too, check out this post I wrote on how to create therapeutic essential oil blends in 7 steps. Hope this helps some! Thanks for your comment!
I’ve long been a candle addict. There’s nothing like lit candles, good music and the ambiance it creates for a relaxing evening at home. And while I haven’t completely kicked the candle habit to the curb, I’m being wiser about my choices for the more occasional lighting of only soy or beeswax while avoiding the paraffin (toxin releasing) candles. But an even better option, which I pretty much use all day long while at home are our essential oil diffusers. Definitely a new kind of addiction. Another plus? It’s elicited more, “Wow, it smells great in here,” comments from guests than my mix of candles ever did!